The Springbok Women Sevens team arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, keen to improve in their second Rugby World Cup Sevens appearance.

The South Africans surprised many in the inaugural Women’s tournament in 2009, where they made the semi-finals of the Dubai showpiece and, according to Springbok Women Sevens coach Denver Wannies, they have their sights set on the play-off stages again.

“We are here to compete for the title and I am pretty happy with the way our preparations went. We had an injury scare with Fundiswa Plaatjie, who had a slight hamstring strain over the weekend, but she passed her final fitness test and is ready to go,” Wannies said shortly after his team jetted into the Russian capital.

“We have a good number of players who played in 2009 and know what is expected and are keen to improve on our last performance at the World Cup,” Wannies said.

The Springbok Women’s team will play defending champions, Australia, as well as China and Ireland in Pool B, with matches to be played on June 29th and 30th.

Most teams have arrived at the tournament hotel and the Women’s team were welcomed by their Springbok Sevens countrymen, who helped them with their luggage and wished them well for the tournament.

• South African referees Marius van der Westhuizen and Rasta Rasivhenge will see action on day one of the Men’s competition on June 28. Van der Westhuizen will handle the match between New Zealand and Canada and Rasivhenge will control action between England and Portugal.